Luan's Problem
by RobbyA
Summary: Luan never considers toning down her pranks. It takes someone she cares about getting hurt because of one of her reckless schemes, so now she's faced with the reality that rather than a comedian, she is heartless.
1. A Birthday Disaster

It was another day at the Loud House; granted, there was ruckus as usual, but it is to be expected. What was particularly special about this day, however, was that it was Lincoln's birthday, his twelfth birthday to be exact. Naturally, a day like this should be commemorated. You're only twelve years old once, right? After some consideration, the parents decide to take Lincoln out to eat and follow that up by going to the movie theaters. While the parents and Lincoln's sisters were preparing for the event, they were noticeably shy of one person.

Luan, the resident comedian, had been spending a few hours in Lincoln's bedroom, applying dozens of fireworks to his door frame. Each firework was set to go off the moment that Lincoln walks into the room. If everything goes according to plan, Lincoln would have the biggest surprise of his life. True, Luan's pranks tend to go awry, but Luan made certain that everything would go off without a hitch. With match in hand, Luan unceremoniously lights the stack of fireworks, and quietly exited the room.

"This will make his birthday a _real_ blast," says Luan, giggling at her own joke.

Rita and Lynn Sr. finalized the reservations for the restaurant, and they call the kids into the living room. The parents do a head count to assure that everyone was present, but with each count, they discovered that they were short one person. Lynn Sr. glances down at his wristwatch, then back upstairs.

"I wonder what Luan's up to."

Rita carefully scans the room for the missing child. Sure enough, he was right; Luan was nowhere to be seen.

"Come to think of it, I haven't seen her all day." Rita places her purse around her arm.

"I remember she said something about doing something special for Lincoln." Lisa – the 4-year-old bespectacled genius of the family – chimes in to address their curiosity. "If I may interject," Lisa begins with a monotonous tone "I seem to recall Luan conducting something in Lincoln's room."

The family groans in annoyance. Ever since April Fools' Day, Luan had made her family's life a living hell. Whether it's propping a bucket of water on the door, or replacing the pillows with gelatin, it was almost as if Luan took pleasure in making her family miserable. And yet, they didn't have the heart to tell Luan that she wasn't funny; she puts so much time and effort into her pranks that telling her would break her little heart. That's the problem, though. Luan never once considers dialing her pranks back. Her family had suffered grievous injuries because of her dangerous stunts, but Luan never felt guilty for the trials she places her family in. Why should she? She was pretty sure that everyone knew that it was only in good fun.

Lincoln sighs irritably. "Well, since it's my room, I'll go see."

Bracing himself for any untold horrors that could transpire, Lincoln began to ascend the stairs. Luan heard Lincoln walking up the stairs. Giggling to herself, Luan quickly hides behind a tall, potted plant across the hall from Lincoln's room. Lincoln arrives to the entrance to his room, and began to knock on the door.

"Luan," says Lincoln exasperatedly "I know you're in there. You better get out now." Luan started to giggle at how clueless her brother was to the impending prank, only to stop when he glanced in her direction. After some moments of silence, Lincoln was about to leave, only to hear sounds of sizzling emitting from the wooden frame. Baffled, Lincoln wraps his hand around the door, only to realize that it was sealed. Frustrated, Lincoln angrily bangs on the door. "Come on, stupid door, work!"

He applied both of his hands onto the doorknob in a desperate attempt to pry the door open. Without any warning, the door flies open. To his surprise, he saw the fireworks lined across his door frame. He scratches his head in curiosity.

"What the?" Before he could finish his train of thought, the fireworks explode in a succession, startling Lincoln. The blasts from the lit fireworks temporarily blind Lincoln, causing him to not be aware of his surroundings. To Luan's horror, Lincoln stumbles onto the two-story stairway, and falls. Lincoln hits the ground head-first with a hard thud. His right leg shatters upon impact, and blood began to pool out onto the floor. His family heard the sickening sound, and immediately run into the living room. What they saw was simply nightmarish. Rita wept bitterly as Lynn Sr. consoled her, while the nine sisters gather around Lincoln's unconscious body. Lori bends down to Lincoln's level, panic-stricken. She tried to not cry at the sight of her brother, but it was excruciating. With her voice breaking from sadness, she tries to stir Lincoln awake.

"Lincoln! Lincoln! Please wake up!" She shakes her brother a few times – hoping that this would wake him up – only to be restrained. The sisters grieved for their brother.

Their mourning was cut short when they heard a door slam from upstairs. Lola was the first to notice.

"Guys, someone's up there!" The sisters turn their attention to the stairs.

"I bet it's that no good Luan," growls her twin sister Lana. All nine sisters sprinted across up the stairway in a flurry of anger and sorrow. They gut each others' bedrooms in their frenzied search for the comedian, but she was nowhere to be found. As they were about to leave, they hear the bathroom door slowly creak open. Without as much of ado, they dash towards the bathroom door in the nick of time. Luan desperately tried to shut the door on her vengeful sisters only for them to pry the door open themselves. Luan was backed into a corner. She held her hands up, fully expecting them to hit her. However, she was only met by their angry glares. Each sister had a look of pure, unadulterated hatred on their faces, causing Luan to jump back in fright.

"Our brother is literally unconscious because of you!" roars Lori.

"Yeah, like what were you thinking?" yells Leni, odd since Leni hardly gets overly mad. Luan felt the severity of her sisters' intense spite for her. She could barely choke out a single word. Luan tugs at her shirt collar before taking a few slow breaths.

"I-I-I'm sorry." Luan struggled to muster up more words. "I…just thought."

Lynn interjects her, catching her off guard. "You better spit it out, or there will be hell to pay." Lynn cracks her knuckles. Intimidated, Luan continues. "I just wanted to surprise him!"

Lori chuckles sarcastically at her answer. "Oh, you surprised him alright." She crosses her arms, and sternly looks at Luan as if to interrogate her. The tension of the room was evident. What Lori said next caught Luan by the throat. "When are you going to learn that you're not funny?

The words rattled through Luan's mind at high speed. She felt sick to her stomach from those few simple words. "I'm not, fun…"

Luna interrupts the discussion. "Your jokes suck dude." This causes Luan's jaw to drop. How could Luna, her own roommate, say such a thing? She always supported her comedy routine. Was that all a lie?

Lana spoke up next. "Your comedy shtick stinks too," she remarks, grinding her teeth. Luan's eyes began to swell up. Her tears of sorrow quickly dissipate when Lucy joins in on the conversation.

Hints of rage could be easily made out from her tone. "Let's not forget your pranks." Even though she had her eyes covered, Luan still felt Lucy's judgmental stare. "You never take time to think that doing these pranks could result in harm!" The sisters loudly agreed. Lori points her index finger at Luan accusingly. "You could've killed our brother!"

Luan was close to tears. "I'm sorry, I just thought."

Lori cruelly laughs at her. "You thought? That's a riot! Since when do you ever think?"

Lori scratches her chin seemingly deep in thought. "Oh, I know your puns." Tears began to streak down Luan's cheeks.

"You always think that you're being clever by making puns, but face it: you know _nothing_ about humor in the slightest!"

While that was bad on its own, her worldview was completely decimated by Lisa's remark. "You're the only one who laughs at such schlock. The only reason why we laugh at your jokes is because we felt sorry for you."

Luan felt a deep pain from within her body. This pain made her feel worse than the time she contracted the flu. All this time, she was convinced that she was being an entertainer and that everyone loved her jokes. The more she thought about it, she realized that even before this incident, they displayed signs of annoyance. My god, they were right. She was nowhere near as hilarious as she thought she was being.

Lori spoke again for the final time. "This was supposed to be Lincoln's special day, and you ruined it. You know what? You're officially no longer my sister." The other girls nod their heads in agreement. "If we weren't related, we would've dumped you a _long_ time ago!"

Sisters: If we weren't related, we would've dumped you a long time ago!

The sisters all leave a crestfallen Luan alone in the bathroom. Mucus and fresh tears slowly fell down her face, causing her to wipe them away using toilet paper. Dejected by her own family, Luan subconsciously crawls into a ball, a coping mechanism of sorts.

"Lincoln...I'm sorry….I'm so sorry…."


	2. Childhood Memories

It didn't take long for the ambulance to arrive to retrieve the unconscious young boy. Even though they were slightly distraught, their parents were able to give a coherent description of their situation. The Vanzilla followed as soon as the ambulance backed out of their driveway. Not one sound was made in the van that day; it was so quiet in fact that you could hear a pin drop and yet it wouldn't make any difference. Luan never made a quip during the entirety of the trip. The cruel words her sisters angrily gave her twirled endlessly in her mind. What if they were right? What if all this time, she was never funny? She looked across the van, but she was only met by her sister's angered expressions and dead silence. They had every right to be mad. It was supposed to be a joyous occasion, but she thrashes it by committing a heartless prank. She thought back on how he helped her with her comedy routine, and how they both bonded over that. She bit her lip to keep fresh tears from escaping her eyes. Lynn Sr. looks up from his rear view mirror, seeing the reflection of his daughter.

"Luan, I am very disappointed in you. You realize that you are grounded for a week?" Luan drearily nods her head. "Yes, dad," she replies. Rita looks back at her as well. "We are also taking your business privileges. You are prohibited from attending birthday gigs for at least a month." Choking back tears, Luan begrudgingly agreed.

The family arrives to the hospital at around 3:30, and Lincoln is wheeled to the inspection room. The family anxiously waits in the emergency room. Once again, the mood was eerily quiet as none of the nine sisters raised their voices or fought over trivial issues. All eyes were on Luan, who sat a few seats away from her family. Sure, there were some efforts to lighten the mood, but they were futile. Soon, Rita and Lynn Sr. were called back, thus leaving the Loud girls to themselves. However, the mood was different. The moment that the parents left the room, they all start to throw insults at Luan. Luan just sat there, taking all of the blame. Why shouldn't she? They were right to treat her like garbage. Like garbage, what she did to her little brother was revolting. So, why take offense at something that was already true?

"If Lincoln dies, I am so done with you," exclaims Lori viciously. Luna crosses her arms angrily before turning her intimidating stare at her roommate. "If Lincoln pulls through, I am going to kick you out of my room. I can't share a room with the likes of someone like you!" This hit Luan like a ton of bricks. "I may not be a little angel, but even I wouldn't do something that low," hisses Lola. Luan nodded her head in agreement. All of their accusations were on point; she had no qualms with that. However, it took Lucy's two cents to solidify her verdict: Lucy turns to glare at her older sister. Despite having her eyes covered by the bangs of her hair, Luan could easily feel her judgmental eyes. It was blazing like a fire from within her heart. "While I am a slave to the darkness, at least I have a heart.

The sisters dished out more insults towards the ex-comedian - some being outright threats of bodily harm - eventually spurring Luan to leave the room, her head down. While she was away, Rita and Lynn Sr. return to the room to share the news. Thankfully, Lincoln hadn't sustained grievous damage from his long fall other than a broken leg; however, Lincoln sustained a minor concussion after his head hit the floor with such force. Lincoln's leg was expected to heal within a number of weeks, but other than that, nothing life-threatening. Rita inquires the girls as to Luan's whereabouts when she sees that Luan wasn't present, before concluding that she must be in the van. Luan walked slowly down the halls of the large hospital, her feet shuffling on the ground.

"All I wanted was to give Lincoln a birthday surprise, but now he'll probably never wake up again. My sisters are right: I'm no comedian. I'm a heartless monster. What am I to do?"

While she was deep in thought, she didn't realize that someone else was in the hall until she bumped into that person. Papers and pens scattered the floor as the unknown person groaned in disbelief. The enigmatic figure was that of a chubby, middle-aged man with thinning grey hair, as well as a white moustache. He also had a brown uniform on and a look of irritation on his face.

Luan looked at him in embarrassment. "I-I'm sorry, sir. Please, let me help you with those." Luan helps the man collect his scattered papers and pens, profusely apologizing while doing soon. After gathering the papers, Luan prepared to leave. "There you go, sir."

The man gave a slight grin. "Oh, please, call me Dr. Blogsby. Just watch where you're going next time, okay?" Luan dutifully nods her head. "Yes sir. I'll keep that in mind." As she turned around to leave, she was stopped by Dr. Blogsby.

Blogsby quietly analyzes Luan before speaking. "You seem to have an awful lot on your mind." Luan sarcastically chuckles at his verdict. "You'd better believe it," she replies "really now, it's nothing to worry about." What catches Luan by surprise is when Blogsby lightly places his hand on her shoulder. Even though she had just met him, his touch felt reassuring.

"Care to speak about it in my office," he asks. Luan gently removes his arm from her shoulder. "Oh, you're one of those psychotherapists, am I right? I shouldn't impose; I'd already done enough horrible things for today." "Please, just a few minutes, and we can all get this sorted out."Luan gave it some thought, and begrudgingly follows the psychotherapist into his office. His office was orderly, of course, but he also had several different knickknacks scattered throughout his shelves. On one of his shelves was a picture of what Luan assumed to be his wife and children. Blogsby broke the silence by asking Luan if she cared for some tea. Normally Luan would drink coffee, but for this occasion, she accepted his offer. After pouring her a cup of tea, Blogsby began the conversation.

"So, tell me. Why were you in such a rush earlier this day?" Luan remained silent. Blogsby blinked a few times before continuing. "If it's too difficult an answer, I will consider your feelings." He began to write something on some sheets of paper until Luan quipped up. "I...I did something terrible to my brother earlier today." The psychotherapist leaned back in his chair and quietly sipped his tea while listening.

"Today was my brother's birthday, and I wanted to surprise him. Show him that I loved him. So, I decided to put fireworks on his door, so that when he walked in, he would be surprised." The psychotherapist placed his fragile cup on his desk. "The prank didn't end well, I assume?" Luan shakes her head. "He fell off the stairs and now he's badly hurt because of me! All I want is to make people laugh, but I only end up causing harm to the ones I love."

"Oh, dear. That is quite a blunder," replies Blogsby. Luan felt her throat close up. "I don't even deserve to be his brother. My sisters were right: if I wasn't related to them, they would've dropped me years ago." Luan began to weep bitterly. Blogsby took the initiative to provide her with a tissue. Blowing her nose into it, the doctor returned to his inquiries.

"Do you know why you do these pranks?" Luan stroked her chin while thinking about any possible explanation. "No, I don't. It just seems that I was always interested in them ever since I was a little girl." Blogsby – sensing that her love for pranks had to stem from somewhere – takes the initiative to ask her when she committed her first prank. Luan subconsciously scavenged through her mind for the first occurrence. Soon, she found her answer.

"Well, it started way back in the fourth grade..." Luan thought back to the time when she was a little girl preparing for her first day back to school. Even then, she still had her signature braces. She also wore her defining outfit as well. As she was heading out the door, her mother spoke up.

"Luan, did you remember to take your medicine?" Luan rolls her eyes at her mom's inquiry. "Yes, mom!" Rita, apparently not pleased by her answer, continues to press her for questions. "You didn't hide it under your pillowcase again, did you?" Luan groans. "Aw mom," whines Luan "I don't wanna take that stupid medicine!"

"I know it's troublesome, but it's supposed to keep your mind focused. We don't want you to bounce around the room, right?" Begrudgingly, Luan uncovers the medicine from her pillowcase. They were two light orange tablets. Luan winced at the idea of taking these two pills, but as she was running late already, she pops the two tablets into her mouth. She then raced down the stairs, and jumped into Vanzilla. Her other sisters were already accounted for. Lori looks out her window in boredom, Leni was busily applying makeup on her cheeks, Luna beat on the side of her seat with a pair of pencils, and Lynn was holding one of her many balls.

Lori looked at Luan. "It took you long enough, Luan." Luan crosses her arms. "Well I'm here, aren't I?" Luna dropped her pencils. "You got busted again because you tried to hide your medicine again?" Leni shrieked at this. "Medicine, is Luan sick? Ew!" Leni jumps back in her seat, and produces a can of Lysol.

Lori face palms at her sister's stupidity. "No, dummy. Luan takes medicine to help her AD-whatever. Mom says that it keeps her mind focused." Leni sets her can of Lysol down. "Oh." As the van was leaving the driveway, the girls began to talk about what they would like to see for their first day back. "What do you think our new teacher will be like?" inquires Lynn. "I bet he's totes cute," squees Leni. Luna grabs her pencils and starts hitting the side of her seat again. "Maybe he's a music man!" Lynn dribbles her ball. "Hope he likes sports."

The Loud girls continued their discussion until they arrived to the entrance of the elementary school. "Have a fun day, girls," states Rita. She then drives off.

They enter the school, and they see that they had been assigned different rooms; Luan was to go to this room that was lorded over by a woman named Mrs. Bittern. Luan strolls to her classroom, only to find that her students seemed...off. None of the children had smiles on their faces. Granted, the first day back to school isn't always festive, but these kids just seemed hollow. They had a look of boredom on their faces, they wore bland, gray outfits, and they looked dutifully at the board. "This is weird," Luan says observantly.

Luan walks to a desk, and sits down. She looks over her side at a young girl who was quietly writing down the problems that were on the board. Feeling that she needed to strike up a conversation with the girl, Luan decided to introduce herself. "Hey there!" squeals Luan.

The girl stops writing for a moment, and looks up at Luan. "I'm Luan. Nice to meet you."

Luan extends her hand to the young girl. The girl looks at her hand momentarily before going back to writing. "Odd." Luan was taken out of her train of thought when the teacher walked into the room. She wore a light blue shirt, and a grayish skirt. She was a bespectacled woman who had her brown hair tied back in a bow. She takes notice of Luan. "Seems like we have ourselves a new student," she says in a detached tone.

Luan smiles at the woman. "My name's Luan; pleased to meet you." She goes to shake Ms. Bitterns' hand, only to be met by her observant eyes. Luan was confused. Did she make a wrong impression? "What is it?" she finally asked. Without any warning, Bittern grabs the flower on Luan's shirt. Luan protested. "Hey! Why'd you do that?" With a monotonous tone, Bittern balls Luan's flower into a wad, and throws it into the trash can."

Bittern then turned her glance towards the young girl. "First things first: we look down on individuality." With that being said, Ms. Bitterns heads back to her desk.

Luan looked at the ruined flower longingly. "My flower….." Unsympathetic, Ms. Bitterns yells at her to return to her seat. (Ms. Bittern begins to teach math problems. It was multiplication. While going through some practice problems, she singles Luan out to answer some questions.

"Luan," Bitterns screams "solve this multiplication problem for us." Luan tentatively twiddled her fingers. "B….but I'm not that good at…." Bitterns slams her ruler on her desk, further frightening Luan. "Do it. Now."

Luan gulps nervously before walking slowly towards the board. It was a simple math question: 5 x 2. Luan looked at the problem for what seemed like infinity. "Well, Ms. Loud, we're waiting," drones Bitterns. Fearful of any possible repercussions, Luan quickly writes something on the board. The teacher looks at the answer sternly. "5 x 2 equals 24?" She looks at Luan disapprovingly. Luan gulps again when Bittern shakes her head. For the sake of cruelty, Ms. Bitterns rises eerily from her desk, and makes an announcement to her pupils. "Look what we have here, class. This exemplifies my point that those not willing to do the work will be failures in life."

Luan's heart broke at her teacher's harsh comment. No one had ever said such deplorable words to her. Apparently not taking notice of Luan being close to tears, Bitterns angrily tells her to sit down. "Someone else solve this problem."

Back in present day, Blogsby puts his cup on his desk. "A tough teacher, I take it?"

Luan nods. "You don't know the half of it: Ms. Bittern made my life miserable. She always seemed to single me out for some reason. I never did anything bad to her, and yet she made me feel terrible about myself. Math was always my stumbling block. The numbers just got scrambled in my mind. You get what I'm saying?"

"By all means, I was never a fan of math," Blogsby says reassuringly. Luan frowns. "But that didn't beat the day in which I failed a math test." Blogsby leans forward in his seat. "Explain."

In the past, Ms. Bitterns was handing out the results from the last test. She had a smile on her face as she passed out the sheets of paper to the students. She showered her students in praise each time she stopped by their desks. "Mabel….good job. Madison, you've been practicing. I'm proud of you." However, her smile quickly dissipated once she reached Luan's desk.

"Luan Loud…" The tension was killing Luan; if it were a knife, it'd probably be drawing her blood. Bitterns stood firmly before Luan. She could've sworn that she saw Bitterns shoot her a slight sneer. She was enjoying Luan's fear. Without any word, Bitterns hands Luan her paper, and she gently flips it over. To her horror, she saw a big fat "F" plastered on it. Bitterns' critical words only solidified her feelings.

"Luan...I am truly displeased. I work my tail off trying to help you understand, and yet you always keep slacking off. I don't see why I have to waste my precious time trying to teach an imbecile like you simple math. Looks like you'll be held back by the time this year's over." Bitter tears roll down Luan's cheeks as she watched Ms. Bittern turn around and walk back to her desk.

At 3 PM, Rita returns to pick up her children. While driving home, Rita notices that Luan was silent throughout the ride. Rita was worried; her daughter was always upbeat. What was the matter? "Dear," Rita says "what is it?" Luan didn't respond. As with all mothers, Rita couldn't help but to be nosy about her daughter's business. "Are you being bullied?" Luan refused to speak.

Rita turns to the other girls to inquire them of the predicament. "Girls, do you know what's eating Luan?" Lori shrugs. "I don't know. She was down in the dumps after class." Rita meditated on her words. "Oh, I see. Is it math again, Luan?" That time, Luan spoke, albeit in a whisper. "No…" Obviously this didn't get pass Rita. "Don't worry, dear. Your dad and I are trying to get you the best tutor. At a low price, of course. Everything will get better."

Luan silently disagreed with her mother. "I doubt that."

The girls return home, and Rita goes to the kitchen to start dinner. Finishing, Rita calls the kids in. She was short one girl. "Kids," Rita began, "where's Luan?" The girls shrugged their shoulders in response. Rita wipes her hands before speaking again. "Luna, since you're her roommate, could you go upstairs and tell her to come down for dinner," she asks. "Got it, mom."

Luna ascends the stairway, and arrives to her and Luan's shared room. She proceeds to knock on the door. "Luan, you in there," says Luna "Mom said dinner's ready." She didn't receive a response. Luna stomps her foot on the ground in irritation. "Luan?" She gets the same response as in absolute silence. Luna sighs. "Luan, I know that that teacher made you upset, but it's not the end of the world." After more silence, Luna becomes enraged. Alright, if you're not going to open the door, I'm coming in. One...two...three!" Luna kicks the door open and unleashes a shriek.

The scream alerts her family. "What the?" yelps Lynn. Leni hid herself under the table. "Ah! Monster," she cries. Lori – annoyed by Leni's actions – pulls her out from under the table. "No, Leni. Something's wrong."

All of the family members run upstairs where they see a distraught Luna openly sobbing. "Luna, what's wrong?" shouts Rita. Luna was crying so hardly – and messily – that her words came out as incomprehensible gibberish. Rita takes Luna to the side and looks into the room herself. She covers her mouth in abject terror. A small "no" escaped her lips.

The girls look into the room as well. On the floor was Luan face down on the floor. In her hand was a small bottle of pills. The girls quickly realize that those were the pills that she uses to stave off her ADHD. The sisters panicked at seeing her lifeless on the ground.

"Someone call the ambulance!" screams Lori.


	3. Resolution

Luan awoke to the sounds of silent weeping. To her surprise, she was at the hospital. After she had accidentally overdosed on her ADHD pills, everything was a blur to her. She then fell into a deep sleep. By the door, Lynn Sr. was consoling his wife who was leaned over in sorrow. She fully became aware of her surroundings when she sees her sisters, their eyes becoming bloodshot red from grieving four hours. Luan tried to get up from her bed, but she immediately felt woozy, and fell back onto the bed. "Where am I?" she asks.

This caught the attention of her sisters. Luna immediately glanced over at the hospital bed. Her eyes widened. She couldn't believe it. She was so convinced that Luan was a goner that she had already given up hope that she could be resuscitated. Tears began to well up in her eyes."Luan, you're alive!" she exclaimed. She ran at full speed towards her sister's bed, but Rita advised her to hug her lightly as she most likely still felt uncoordinated. Luan was at first shocked by Luna's display of emotion, but she returned the hug.

"We were literally scared about what you did," exclaims Lori. Luan looked down in shame. "I'm sorry," she sighs "I didn't mean to make you all scared." Lynn scratched her head. "Why would you do something like that?" asks Lynn. Luan thought back to what happened earlier that day – and how she failed that math test – and she began to tear up as the memories flooded back into her. Big tears slid down her cheeks, soaking the bed. Luna rubbed her back tenderly. "Sis," she began "just tell us why you did this." Luan looked at her with her tear-soaked eyes. "I wanted to get better at math," she sniffed. Lynn was confused by her answer. "What does math have to do with this?"

Luan's nose began to run, causing her to resort to wiping it with the back of her hand before elaborating further. "You don't understand. I work hard on math every day, but it just gets scrambled in my mind." Luan looks down again. "Maybe there's something wrong with me."

Luan began to cry again; Luna lightly rubs her back, and wipes away her tears with a tissue. She was close to crying herself, which made it hard for her to muster up what to say to encourage her. "No, there isn't anything wrong with you." Luan looked up at her in curiosity. Luna stumbled to her next point "I don't know where you ever got that idea."

Luan shook her head defiantly. "But it's true; Ms. Bitterns always reminds me of how little value my life has. After I failed that stupid math test for her, she just gave up on me. She's right to do so." Luna couldn't believe her ears. She wanted to slap some sense into her, but that'd probably make the situation worse than need be. "Right?!" she screamed "how is it remotely right? She could've killed you! Luan slowly explained her reasoning:"Because it is true: every time I try to do math, the numbers get scrambled in my mind. Sometimes I think it's these answers sometimes that answer; I don't know why I keep doing this." Luna throws away her used tissue paper, and gives her a few more. "When a problem looks easy to solve, alternate ideas pop into my head that make me rethink myself. She explained even the most basic terms to me, but I still end up screwing up. I should just face it. She's right: I am a failure."

Luna was at a loss for words. Did this teacher really turn her younger sister into a cynic. Luan was always optimistic even when it came to something as hard as academics. Realizing that Luan was willing to nearly kill herself just for the sake of concentrating more in class horrified her. Without thinking, Luna grabbed onto Luan, as if to clarify that she was physically interacting with her. Luan was astonished. Luna then looked her straight in the eyes. "So you can't solve for X, big deal" declares Luna. Luna spoke slowly to Luan so that she could further emphasize her points. "You are more special than that." Luan wanted to believe this, but her mind wouldn't allow for it. It was illogical. "How am I?"

Luna smiled reassuringly, though tears formed at the sides of her mouth. "Because you're my sister," she manages to choke out. She held Luan's hand as she struggled to complete her statement. "You're my best friend." Both roommates shared their sorrows by openly sobbing.

"Yeah, we don't know how we can even go on if you were gone," proclaims Lori. Lynn walked over, giving a stern look to Luan while doing so. "Just promise that you won't do that again," she demanded, her hands forming into fists. Luan gulped nervously, and chuckled. "Don't worry. I promise."

* * *

(Present day)

In the present, Blogsby leaned back in his chair. "My, what a story." He goes to refill his cup of tea. After finishing, he returns to his seat, and continues to write. "Tell me," he began "what became of Ms. Bitterns? Surely she would've been fired."

Luan gave a smile that even the Cheshire cat would be envious of. "Oh, that's the best part. Here's how it went."

* * *

(Back in 4th grade)

Luan walks into Ms. Bitterns' classroom the next day. She saw that Bitterns was busily grading papers, so maybe if she were to be as quiet as possible, maybe Bitterns wouldn't notice. She tiptoed into the room, and right where she was within arm reach of her desk, as if on cue, Bitterns instantly takes her head off of her work, and scowls at Luan. "Luan Loud..."

"Crap," thought Luan. If ever there were a time she wanted to be invisible it was now. Bitterns continued. "I've heard that you were recently in the hospital. What happened?" Luan swallowed slowly. Bitterns impatiently drilled her for an answer. Luan twiddled her fingers anxiously for a response. "Well, you see, Ms. Bitterns..." Bitterns interrupts her before she could finish her explanation. "Save it," she groans "I'm going to assume that you pretended to be sick just so you could miss a week of school." Luan didn't give her any feedback. Bitterns grins sadistically. "So not only are you a failure, but you've decided to play hooky?"

Luan was too terrified to answer. Bitterns pouts. "Hmph. Get to your seat. Class will begin soon." Luan complied, and she hurried to her seat. Before class began, Ms. Bitterns looks down at her desk, realizing that she had some papers that she neglected to give back. As it was a pretty big class, Ms. Bitters skimmed the room for volunteers. She eventually sets her eyes on Luan. "Luan!" Luan looked up in fear. "Y-yes, Ms. Bitterns?" Bitterns could practically taste the fear that was emitting from Luan's pores. She loved it. "Help me hand out these papers," Bitterns explained.

Fearing what would happen if she said no, Luan nervously walked to the front of the room. Bitterns looked at her with an expression of pure hatred. "We haven't got all day," the vile woman growled. Luan yelps, and quickly rushes towards her. Luan took a handful of the papers, and began to walk towards the desks. It would seem that her nerves weren't cooperating with her as she accidentally dropped several sheets of paper on the floor, angering Ms. Bitterns further. "I asked you to do ''one'' simple task and you still messed it up." Luan looks down ashamedly. "Fine," sighs Bitterns "I'll do it myself." Bitterns goes to bend down, only to hear a rip. Her students gasped. "What is it?" she inquired. She felt a breeze flow past her exposed tushy, which she covers up in embarrassment. Her face became as red as a tomato. She immediately forgets her humiliation when she threw her attention back onto Luan. "Why you little….."

Ms. Bitterns runs in the young girl's direction. Luan was so frightened she nearly wet herself. At the last minute, Luan ran towards the back of the room. Bitterns tried to catch her, only to slip on the pieces of scattered paper, her face making contact with the floor. "Oh no," uttered Luan. This was bad, she was sure of it.

The students looked at the fallen teacher, and then to Luan. She fully expected them to reprimand her for being a klutz, or to make her pay for causing Ms. Bitterns harm. What she anticipated was far from what she could've imagined. Cheeky grins began to form on the once emotionless kids, and they began to laugh. It was a few low chuckles at first, but soon the room erupted in laughter. Luan could hardly believe it herself, but even she couldn't help but to laugh. "Well, I sure gave her the slip," declared Luan. This only made the kids laugh harder.

Slowly but surely, Ms. Bitterns awoke from her spur of unconsciousness to find that her students were gathered around them. In their hands were their notebooks, textbooks, pencils, and other items. Bitterns snarled. "What's the meaning of this?" she yelled "get back in your seats!" It didn't take much for the kids to consider what to do next, and they proceeded to throw their school supplies at Bitterns. Bitterns squealed at the barrage of items being thrown at her. She tried to cover her face with her arms. "OW! Stop that you brats!" The kids did not relent, and they continued to bombard their teacher. Ms. Bitterns struggled to get up only to accidentally slip on the papers again. "Great," she thought "hopefully it won't get any worse." It did. One of the girls noticed a peculiar smell. "Hey, you guys smell that?" The other kids stop what they're doing and begin to smell the air. "Oh my gosh," exclaims a boy "Ms. Bitterns peed!" Ms. Bitterns looks down and notices a puddle of yellow urine pooling from her skirt. At that moment, Bitterns' sanity broke. She clawed at the desks to lift herself from off the ground, and runs towards the door screaming like a banshee down the halls.

The kids cheer. Luan received endless amounts of praise from her classmates. "Way to go, Luan," one boy quips "that was the funniest thing that I've seen in my entire life." Luan smiled. "Thanks, but I didn't intend…."

A girl interrupts the conversation. "Are you a comedian," she asks. Luan pondered what the girl had said for a second. She did not intend to humiliate Ms. Bitterns in anyway, and yet, it was actually pretty funny. Maybe this was what she was meant to be the entire time. A smile forms on Luan's face as she basked in the praise she received from her classmates. "Yes, yes I am."

* * *

(Present day)

By the time that the story was over, both Dr. Blogsby and Luan were having a good laugh about the incident. Luan was laughing so hard, that tears dropped from her eyes. Luan quickly composes herself when she realizes what the purpose for the meeting was. "And ever since, I had upped the stakes for my pranks. I know that I haven't put much thought into them like I should've done with Lincoln. But I didn't, and his birthday was ruined because of me."

Blogsby scratches his chin. "I feel that I know why you do these pranks." Luan perked up. "You do?"

Blogsby shakes his head. "Yes, ever since you embarrassed your teacher, you were trying to recreate that experience. You wanted to get that same feeling you've had back then? Am I right?"

Luan's eyes open from this realization. "I believe so, doc. Ms. Bitters really opened my eyes, and made me realize my potential as a comedian. I just wish I could do something to make it up to Lincoln."

Blogsby pats her back comfortingly. "I'm sure you will." Blogsby looks at his wristwatch, and realizes that his hour was up. "Look, Luan," he said "I really hate to end our discussion, but I have to get going." Luan nods her head knowingly. Blogsby gets up from his seat, reaches into his shirt pocket, and produces a card. Without a word, he gives Luan the card.

Luan looks over the card thoroughly. "What's this?" Blogsby beams a smile at her. "If you feel that you ever need to talk, feel free to visit." Luan shoots a smile back at him. "Thanks. Do I need to pay for anything?" Blogsby shrugs before continuing. "Consider this one free on me."

Blogsby opens the door for Luan, and she began to walk out. Blogsby goes to collect his papers, only to have Luan turn back at the last second, and hug him. "Thanks so much for helping me with my dilemma," said Luan. The hug was awkward, but Blogsby lightly pat her back in return. "You're welcome. Now go to your family. They must be worried sick."


	4. Forgiveness

Luan walked down the wide hall towards Lincoln's room. Arriving at Lincoln's room, Luan stopped in front of the door. She was scared about how her sisters would react to seeing her again. They may as well act on their threats of beating her to a bloody pulp. At the very least, they could hear her out before commencing the beat down. "Come down, Luan," she says to herself "just open the door, and everything will be fine."

After breathing in and out a few times, Luan placed her hand on the doorknob. Turning it slowly, Luan quietly peeked into the room. Lincoln was awake, and happily chatting with his sisters. For someone who had recently gotten his leg shattered, as well as a minor concussion, Lincoln seemed upbeat. On his head was a bandage. It hurt Luan to see her brother that way. She wrestled herself on whether she should go into his room or leave. She eventually swallowed her pride, and she opened the door. Her sisters stopped their conversation with Lincoln, and stared at Luan. Luan fully expected them to tackle her the moment she came in. Sure enough, Lori was walking towards her. Luan winced, fully anticipating the punch that would never come. To her astonishment, instead of pulverizing her, Lori instead embraced her.

Luan didn't know how to process the situation before her. Her she was willing to take the punishment for what she had done, and yet Lori is hugging her. "What, what's going on here," Luan asked absentmindedly. Lori – with tears in her eyes – looked at Luan straight in the eyes. "I'm so sorry."

Luan was confused. What did Lori have to apologize for? She was absolutely right in her accusations, so why is she suddenly taking back everything that she had said? "Sorry for what?" Luan finally asks. Lori loosens her grip on Luan when she notices that she was having trouble breathing. "I wanted to apologize for what I said earlier," she states. Luan shrugged her arms playfully. "Oh, that? That was nothing; I deserved it."

Lori shook Luan's shoulders, startling her. "No, no" she roared "I was wrong to say such awful things to you!" Luan took Lori's hands off her shoulders. Lori apologized for being overly violent before speaking again. "Besides, I remember this scenario."

"What do you mean?" asked Luan. Lori turned her attention towards Luna, Leni, and Lynn. She then looked back at Luan. "How years ago, you overdosed on your medicine," Lori explained. "We were all scared about losing you. I had forgotten how painful it was to almost lose you the moment that Lincoln got hurt." Luna walked over, and pat Lori on the back. "That's why we were worried that…" Lori was overcome with emotion. "What?" asked Luan quizzically. Lori balances herself on Lincoln's bed for composure. At ease, Lori progressed to her next point. "That you would try to do it again," she choked out.

Luna inserted herself into the discussion. "You've been gone a couple hours, sis," replied Luna "we were worried that we would have to tell Lincoln that you probably weren't coming back." Luan looked at her brother. Her heart nearly missed a beat when she saw Lincoln's cast, firmly wrapped on his leg. This didn't seem to bother Linc much as he was overjoyed that his sister returned. "Luan, I'm so glad you're back," he proclaims. Luan looked at him in grief.

"Lincoln," she began "I've said this several times already. So much so that I have it memorized." Lincoln quietly listened. "I am sorry that I had harmed you in such a way," states Luan with a hint of regret in her tone. Lincoln rubbed her hand. "Luan, please, you're beating yourself up." Luan defiantly shook her head. "But it's true," she screams "you do so much for me, I just neglect being grateful." She was close to tears again. "I don't deserve to be your sister."

Lincoln sprang up in his bed, and hugged his older sister. "No" says Lincoln reassuringly "you are important to me." Luan loudly stated her disapproval. "But what about your party," she finally asked "you've had plans, but they're dashed." Lincoln gently smiles at her. "Luan, what's a birthday party when you're not gathered with those you love?" Tears stream down Luan's face, and she goes to hug her brother deeply. Luan eventually broke the hug, and stood beside Lincoln's bed. Luna smiles at the two, until a thought came into her mind. "So, Luan, did you see anyone while you were gone?"

Luan wordlessly looked down at the business card Dr. Blogsby gave her. A smile spread across the comedian's face. "Just a friend," replied Luan.

* * *

 _Hey, AustinDR here. I hope you all enjoyed the story. Honestly, this was a very personal story for me. I had two purposes for writing this story. For one, I wanted to present Luan in a different light. Several people that I know deeply resent Luan for a variety of reasons, one in particular being in "April Fools Rules." I'll say this: I don't actually hate Luan. Yes, while she definitely goes too far in her pranks, and her puns are terrible, I don't dislike her at all. I wanted to make a story that explored the roots of Luan's knack for doing pranks. Do I think this lines up canonically with the actual series? No, I agree that she may have become interested in comedy in part because of her father's influence, but I found it a little too easy of an answer._

 _As for why I chose to portray Luan in this way...I'll admit that I also take medicine for ADHD. I was diagnosed with Asperger's for as long as I could remember. I could do several subjects without a hitch, but when it came to math, it was always my worst enemy. I just felt that there was something wrong with me. My teacher could give all of the examples of what he's teaching on the board, and I still wouldn't get it. Having Asperger's just made me feel like I wasn't normal. I had no friends - and I still don't - and it made me wish that I was born like how other people were. I would've had better social skills, I would've understood math more...I just wanted to be normal. It had gotten to such a point, that thoughts of killing myself surfaced. I tried to suppress them, but they were hard to restrain. I wanted to harm myself. I wanted to be freed from my burdens. Of course, I never had any teachers as sadistic as Bitterns, but there were some that outright didn't want me in their rooms because I cried a lot, and that thought I wasn't worth their time. Even though I did better in a new school, those insensitive words continued to haunt me. I guess you could say that a lot of my personal life went into making this fanfic._


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